Zellertal is a municipality in the

Donnersbergkreis The Donnersbergkreis is a district (''Kreis'') in the middle of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Bad Kreuznach, Alzey-Worms, Bad Dürkheim, Kaiserslautern, Kusel. History The district was created in 1969 by merging the dist ...

district, in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The villages of ,

Harxheim Harxheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location Harxheim is a winegrowing village ...

and Niefernheim form Zellertal. Zellertal is located in the eponymous region, which in turn is part of the Palatinate wine region and borders on the

Rhenish Hesse Rhenish Hesse or Rhine HesseDickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 542. . (, ) is a region and a former government district () in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is ...

wine region.

Geography

Location

The three villages that make up the municipality are located between

Worms The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

and

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; ) is a town in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, 666 kilometers (414 m ...

in the

Rhenish-Hessian Hills The Rhenish-Hessian Hills (), also called the "Land of the Thousand Hills" (''Land der 1000 Hügel''), refers to that part of Rhenish Hesse within the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It lies within the counties of Alzey-Worms and Mainz-Bingen ...

. They are the easternmost part of Donnersbergkreis district. The

Pfrimm The Pfrimm () is a , left or western tributary of the Rhine in the Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany). Course The Pfrimm rises in the southern part of the Donnersbergkreis. Its spring lies in the northern part of the Palatinate Forest Nature P ...

river flows through Harxheim and Niefernheim, whilst Zell is located further up on the slope of ''Osterberg'' hill. Neighbouring municipalities are

Ober-Flörsheim Ober-Flörsheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location Ober-Flörsheim lies on a hi ...

, Mölsheim,

Wachenheim Wachenheim an der Weinstraße (formerly called ''Wachenheim im Speyergau'') is a small town in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, roughly 1 km south of Bad Dürkheim and 20 km west of Ludwigshafen. It is known ...

Kindenheim Kindenheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location The municipality lies in the no ...

, Bubenheim,

Immesheim Immesheim is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the nor ...

and

Einselthum Einselthum is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the no ...

Divisions

The municipality is divided into three villages:

Climate

Despite its location in the

North Palatinate North Palatinate''Das Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges in der Nordpfalz'' by Timo Scherne, Nordpfälzer Geschichtsverein, 2006. () is a region in southwest Germany with an area of just 650 km2, making it the smallest landscape in the Palatinate re ...

Zellertal has a milder climate then the rest of the district. It profits of the hillside to the north, protecting the valley from cold snaps. The east–west orientation guarantees a large amount of sunshine each day.

History

The name of Zell derives of the cell (''Latin'': cella) of PhilApp of Zell an

eremite A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

and saint who lived in the area in the 8th century. His festival is celebrated yearly on the Sunday after 3 May. In medieval times the three villages were owned by

Hornbach Abbey Hornbach Abbey () is a former monastery founded around 741 in the historic town of Gamundias (today Hornbach) by Saint Pirmin, which soon became a Benedictine abbey. The most important neighbouring abbeys were Bausendorf, Saint-Avold, Glandern, ...

and given as

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

to the

Counts of Leiningen The House of Leiningen is the name of an old German noble family whose lands lay principally in Alsace, Lorraine, Saarland, Rhineland, and the Palatinate. Various branches of this family developed over the centuries and ruled counties with Imp ...

. The municipality in its current shape was formed on 1 January 1976 when the three municipalities of Harxheim (pop. 714), Niefernheim (pop. 188) and Zell (pop. 228) merged.

Demographics

Religion

The Catholics are part of the

Diocese of Speyer The Diocese of Speyer () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. The diocese is located in the South of the Rhineland-Palatinate and comprises also the Saarpfalz district in the east of the Saarland. The bishop's see is in the ...

, the Protestants of the

Evangelical Church of the Palatinate Evangelical Church of the Palatinate (Protestant Regional Church) () is a United Protestant church in parts of the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, endorsing both Lutheran and Calvinist orientations. The seat of the church i ...

. Zell has a church for each denomination, Harxheim has a Protestant one.

Population

The change in population from 1815 to 2017 in the current municipal borders.Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz – Regionaldaten.
Retrieved 11 December 2021.

Politics

Council

The

village council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counci ...

is composed of 16 members who were elected in a personalized proportional representation in the local elections on June 9, 2024, and the honorary mayor as chairman.

Heraldry

The coat of arms shows Saint Philipp of Zell, who could be seen on the three villages individual coats of arms. The grapes symbolise viticulture.

Culture and sights

Buildings

The village center of Zell is a protected

architectural ensemble Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

. There are several more protected buildings like St. Philipp's Church, several old wineries or the Protestant church of Harxheim. The most famous sight is the ''Ehrenmal'' known as ''Zeller Denkmal'' (Zell monument) in the vernacular. It was built in 1928 at the road between Zell and Mölsheim and has become a symbol of the whole region.

Nature

There are four protected natural monuments in the municipality.

Festivals

St. Philipps festival is celebrated in May each year. The ''Parkfest'' in Zell is celebrated on the fourth weekend of July.

Economy and infrastructure

Economy

The local economy is based on viticulture and tourism related to viticulture. See

for a further description of the local viticulture. A wind farm is partly located in the municipal district.

Infrastructure

Roads

B47 federal road passes through the valley along the northern edge of Harxheim. Minor roads connect the villages to one another as well as to

Albisheim Albisheim is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is part of the Zellertal region. Geography The village is located in the part of the Pfrimm Valley, known as ''Zellertal'', which forms part of the Alzey Hil ...

Ebertsheim Ebertsheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location The municipality lies in the no ...

Public transit

The three villages are served by bus lines 904 and 921 of the VRN. The latter runs hourly on weekdays between

Kirchheimbolanden Kirchheimbolanden is the capital and the second largest city of the Donnersbergkreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate. Situated in south-western Germany, it is approximately 25 km west of Worms, Germany, Worms, and 30 km north-east of Kaisersla ...

and

Monsheim Monsheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location Monsheim lies in the southern Wonnegau ...

where trains to

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

Alzey Alzey () is a ''Verband''-free town – one belonging to no ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the fifth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz, Worms, Germany, Worms, Ingelheim am Rhei ...

or Worms can be reached. Line 904 runs to

Göllheim Göllheim () is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated north of the Palatinate forest, approx. 25 km west of Worms. It was the site of the 1298 Battle of Göllheim. Göllheim is the seat of ...

and Eisenberg. The eponymous

Zeller Valley Railway References External links StreckeninformationenFörderverein Eistalbahn e. V.– Fahrplaninformationen, Betriebsführung und Instandhaltung Infrastrukturbetreiber der Strecke Railway lines in Rhineland-Palatinate North Palatinate Palatinate ...

has not been served by regular passenger trains since the 1980s. There was a two-hourly weekend service from 2001 to 2016. The station for the municipality is called ''Harxheim-Zell''.

Education

Zellertal

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

is attended by around 200 pupils.

References

External links

Guide to businesses in the Zellertal region
{{Authority control Donnersbergkreis